Trump urges Supreme Court to hit pause on a law that could ban TikTok in the U.S. next month

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday requested the Supreme Courtroom to pause implementation of a legislation that will ban TikTok within the U.S. on Jan. 19 if the app shouldn’t be offered by its Chinese language mother or father firm.

The courtroom is because of hear arguments in the case on Jan. 10.

“President Trump takes no place on the underlying deserves of this dispute,” wrote D. John Sauer, Trump’s lawyer who can be the president-elect’s choose for U.S. solicitor basic. “As an alternative, he respectfully requests that the Courtroom think about staying the Act’s deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, whereas it considers the deserves of this case, thus allowing President Trump’s incoming Administration the chance to pursue a political decision of the questions at problem within the case.”

The legislation on the coronary heart of the swimsuit is the Defending People from Overseas Adversary Managed Functions Act, a bipartisan measure handed by Congress and subsequently signed into legislation by President Joe Biden in April.

The legislation would require TikTok’s Chinese language proprietor, ByteDance, to promote the platform to an American firm or face a ban.

Earlier this month, the courtroom decided to listen to the case and fast-tracked the schedule for briefing and oral arguments. Nevertheless, the courtroom punted on TikTok’s request to pause implementation of the ban, leaving simply 9 days after oral arguments for them to problem an opinion or indefinitely block the legislation.  

Trump, in his courtroom submitting, urged he might negotiate a political decision to the matter earlier than the courtroom must rule.

“President Trump alone possesses the consummate dealmaking experience, the electoral mandate, and the political will to barter a decision to avoid wasting the platform whereas addressing the nationwide safety issues expressed by the Authorities—issues which President Trump himself has acknowledged,” Sauer wrote.

Trump previously met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in December, hours after the president-elect expressed he had a “warm spot” for the app.

The Justice Division and TikTok additionally submitted briefs within the case on Friday, primarily rehashing arguments they made earlier than the U.S. Courtroom of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

That courtroom upheld the law, concluding that the federal government’s nationwide safety justifications for banning the app, together with issues that the Chinese language authorities might entry knowledge about American customers and manipulate content material on the app, have been respectable.